Graduate schools have been admitting more and more students older than the "traditional" 18- to 24-year-old campus population. These adult learners may come to their programs of study without formal training in library use in general or literature searches in particular. By examining various successful and unsuccessful strategies used by…

This is the final report on a three year project designed to investigate the development of problem-solving strategies in elementary school children. In this project the personality of the child as it is reflected in problem solving style is examined. The hybothesis that reflective children are more competent problem solvers than impulsive…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the relational nature of humor, (2) pragmatism and transaction, (3) within-channel redundancy versus between-channel redundancy in instructional material and its association with…

This study details three methods developed during the course of an investigation for describing adult-child interaction: (1) the "VINEX" category system for coding the actual language of the adult and the child; (2) a coding system for describing nonverbal behavior; and, (3) "Interaction Language," for the use of an observer in…

This learning module helps the teacher to master teaching skills that stimulate children to explore materials and to order their explorations in ways that lead to classification and that generate the child's own structuring of his discoveries and experiences. Teaching behaviors focused upon are congruent with Piagetian concepts about a child's…

Suggests the need for detailed study of (1) behavior-environment interactions and (2) interdependencies within behavioral repertoires. Examines systems theory as a paradigm for both interpreting dynamic interrelationships and examining the complexities of learning and adaption. Argues for noninterventive studies of individual children's…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 30 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) writing performance and its relationship to the writing attitudes, topic knowledge, and writing goals of college freshmen; (2) representational semantics; (3)…

Communicative behavior conveys two messages: (1) content, and (2) how the recipient of the communication is to behave with regard to the content, or "relational communication." How the recipient responds to relational communication defines what form the relationship will take--either complementary or symmetrical. In a complementary…

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for assessing aspects of the cognitive functioning of young children from their symbolic play. Subjects were 60 children, aged 3 to 5 years, from middle-class and lower-class families. The study was conducted in two phases, with the following objectives: (1) to identify and analyze aspects of…

This review covers the psychological literature of the last 30 years regarding the personality and motivational characteristics of individuals with mental retardation. The first section is a brief historical review and critical examination of the various conceptual models and theories regarding personality and motivational processes in persons…

The use of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III) and its interpretation in educational use are discussed. To measure intelligence, Wechsler believed one must measure the various aptitudes that contribute to the total behavior of the individual. The WISC-III has six verbal subtests and seven performance subtests.…

This project was designed to study the process of parents teaching preschool age children using a direct observational method. Six mothers and their own three-year-old sons from seven ethnic groups participated: middle-class Anglo, lower-class Anglo, English-speaking Mexican-American, bilingual Mexican-American; Spanish-Speaking Mexican-American,…

Findings based on extended analyses of cognitive, familial, personality, and social-behavioral data from two previous research investigations are presented. Data for the main study, i.e., the present study, was collected principally by means of interviews. Findings of the principal study include the following: (1) Parental figures living in the…